Has anyone found the mash pH being low when using Best Pils? I was 0.3 low yesterday. Right now I am at a brewery, and the brewer said he was 0.3 low also, using Best. He said it had tasted a little tart when he chewed it.
I was going to do a mini mash the night before but got lazy. That needs to be part of my procedure with new malts (new to me malts, that is).
interesting you bring this up Jeff. I jumped to the conclusion my lower than expected PH might be my Ro water and carbonic acid. Ive been getting lower than expected PH with some of the lots of avangard malts…distilled or RO water and in the .2-.3 range. This has been with the pils, munich, pale ale and vienna.
Im starting to suspect different maltsters and or lots being the culprit, not my water.
I just ordered some weyermann floor malted pils for next batch, and hoping to see if I end up with similar variance in PH or not.
I brewed with Avangard dark Munich on Saturday, my mash ph was .2 lower that expected. I ended up with 5.3 opposed to my targeted 5.5.
I remember Martin recommending we enter Rahr 2 row in Brunwater as 5L, to account for its higher acidity. Maybe we need to start doing something similar for Pils malts.
That’s good to know. I brewed a Blonde last weekend with Rahr 2 row and my mash pH was .27 low. It was my first time using phosphoric acid to reduce alkalinity, so I thought I may have added too much.
im selfishly happy to hear others experience variances in PH vs brunwater/software. its been driving me crazy I’m doing something wrong.
I get a specific logarithm in software is determining the PH…just makes me wonder about different malt processes between malt manufacturers and PH.
I do that for Rahr 2-row.
Never had the low pH with Weyermann’s Pils.
i cant get software to account for .3 Ph variance just by changing from 2L to 5L though…something Im missing?
How much does it change it, out of curiosity ?
100% pils 2L (10#), yellow balanced at 1.6qt/lb with RO would be 5.61. change that to 5L and PH is 5.52
edit: at 12L, you get about .3 Ph drop at 5.30 vs 5.61PH and 2L
Jeff, have you been adjusting it upwards then after getting a low reading? Just wondering how much this could affect the final beer.
I wonder if it’s not just Best pils, but maybe their Vienna as well? Gah! I really don’t want to have to get a pH meter…
The last 2 German Pilsner batches using Best Pils were lower than expected by .2-.3 pH (actual vs calculated by Brunwater).
I’m always within +/- .05.
Haven’t seen the larger variance on my Canada Malting 2 row or TF Maris Otter, yet anyway.
I thought that was just for Rahr Pale Ale malt? I use Martin’s +3L correction for that malt with great success. I haven’t used it and didn’t need it for the Rahr 2-Row pale.
Maybe Martin will weigh in - I remembered it being for the 2 row.
this one was at 5.25, so I let it ride. Conversion eff. was close to 100%, hit my OG. Was going for 5.55, then use lactic to drop. Next time I will try that.
Great, thanks. I think I’ll target 5.4-5.5 for my next helles in Bru’n water. Or should I actually target 5.6? Hmmm…
I haven’t seen this in the past. I targeted 5.35 in the kettle, and the lactic acid addition suggested got me close (8 ml for 10 gallons of mash water). But, their spec sheet shows that it can vary.
Specification min max
Moisture content % 5.0
Extract fine grind, dry basis % 80.5
Fine-coarse di erence EBC % 2.0
Viscosity (8.6%) mPa·s 1.60
Friability % 80.0
Glassiness % 3.0
Protein, dry basis % 9.0 11.5
Soluble nitrogen mg/100g 610 780
Kolbach index % 36.0 45.0
Wort color
EBC 3 4.9
L 1.6 2.3
Wort pH EH 5.80 6.10
Grading > 2.5 mm % 90.0
Diastatic Power WK 250
yes i think that’s the key…could vary between maltsters and lots.
Edit: be interesting to see what I get for PH of recipe with RO and water profile identical to one with Avangard pils vs. the weyermann floor malted pils I ordered.
I also have a sack of Best Pils malt and have found that wort pH tends to be a bit lower than the color indicates.
Maybe more maltsters are getting on board with making base malts more acidic through some sort of acidification like done for acid malt? Since all mashes need some sort of acidification via alternatives such as: adding Ca and Mg salts, adding darker crystal and roast malts, or adding an actual acid, it is a good thing that the maltsters are doing this. It’s just that it makes it difficult to know which maltsters are doing it.
By the way, I’ve found that Simpsons Golden Promise tends to be more acidic than indicated by color rating.
Keep posting this sort of information since it will help refine the malt acidity parameters.
I plan on getting some distilled water, doing some mini-mashes in a thermos with the base grains I have on hand.
A post will have the findings.